Roadside vehicle repairs, such as tire changing, are an all too common occurrence. Quite often, the remedy for these situations involves accessing the underside of the vehicle or lifting the vehicle in order to remedy the situation. Usually this is accomplished via a car jack included in most vehicles.
Car jacks involve the use of physical exertion through a lever or screw system to develop the power necessary to raise the vehicle. Often, the physical exertion required is beyond that which is capable by the operator, and thus the service of a tow truck is required to perform the necessary repairs or to tow the vehicle to somewhere where the proper equipment is available. These same problems exist while raising the vehicle to change oil or for other maintenance or repairs.
Various attempts have been made to provide alternate methods for lifting a vehicle in order to perform repairs. Examples of these attempts can be seen by reference to several U.S. patents, including U.S. Pat. No. 2,495,092; U.S. Pat. No. 3,565,398; U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,582; U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,145; U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,086; U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,708; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,877,200.
However, none of these designs are similar to the present invention. While these apparatuses fulfill their respective, particular objectives, each of these references suffer from one (1) or more disadvantages. Many such apparatuses are not easy to transport or move manually. Many such apparatuses require fairly complicated setup in order to use. Many such apparatuses are not conveniently compactable for storage between uses. Many such apparatuses require maintenance of power supplies. Many such apparatuses are complicated or physically demanding to operate and adjust. Accordingly, there exists a need for a vehicle lifting apparatus with a compact configuration and simple and easy means of operation. The development of the present invention substantially departs from the conventional solutions and in doing so fulfills this need.